Why My Children Will Not Take State Assessments

This post was originally written last year. Since then, New York State Governor, Andrew Cuomo, has proposed a new set of public education reforms. Part of his plan proposes that the new Common Core state tests count as 50% of the teacher evaluation score, while the remaining score is comprised of an outside (read: state appointed, but district paid) observer. Only 15% of the teacher’s evaluation is from a school building administrator. If the teacher falls into the ineffective category two consecutive years, the teacher will be dismissed with no right to an appeals process. The state of teacher turnover and loss of veteran teachers will be detrimental to public schools. In addition to his teacher evaluation proposals, he is also withholding funding to public schools until state lawmakers accept his proposals. The Common Core tests are designed for students to fail. Teachers are forced to sign a “gag…